Letters

Geoffrey Pierce, who hears Only A Game on KUHF in Houston, Texas, is thinking ahead. He e-mailed this week to ask what would happen if the Yankees and the Red Sox were to finish the regular season with identical records. Assuming those teams have a better record than the winners in the other two divisions, he wondered, which team would be the division winner, and which would enter the playoffs via the wildcard?

Mr. Pierce, there would be a one-game playoff. It would probably be entertaining. And thanks for the question, because in these complicated and challenging times, I'm grateful for one I can answer.

Having heard my conversation with Don Van Natta, the author of a new biography of Babe Didriksen Zaharias, Greg Siefert of Crete, Illinois started reading the book and e-mailed to convey his reaction. "Tremendous athlete," he wrote, "but an even more enormous ego. What a nightmare of a teammate."

Mike Thorpe, who hears the program on Vermont Public Radio is apparently a selective if enthusiastic listener. "Both my partner and I tune in every Saturday morning," he wrote, "except when March roles around. There are so many sports other than basketball to discuss, and we can't stand the focus on one of the few sports that is less interesting than watching paint dry."

It's fair to conclude that Mr. Thorpe is not especially troubled by the NBA lockout.

And finally, a listener who only identified him or herself as "coladas" e-mailed to express delight at last week's story about the Dainty Championships held in Louisville, Kentucky. The message read in part: "This game reminds me of Laurel and Hardy's classic film, 'March of the Wooden Soldiers.'"

I wondered about that reference…until I found a clip of Stan Laurel showing Oliver Hardy how to play a game that does, in fact, look suspiciously like Dainty.

Whether or not you can make one stick jump into the air by hitting it with another stick, then knock that first stick into the distance with the second stick…you can tell us what you think of anything you've heard on Only A Game by visiting our website, onlyagame.org. You can leave a message on the listener line by calling 617-353-1860. You can also find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at Only A Game radio.